undefined | Better HN

0 pointslyu0728210d ago0 comments

But it feels like a slippery slope argument to me, like how do you go so quickly from standardized web APIs to your ChromeOS/TCPA dystopia? I think that's quite the leap to make, especially considering we already have those locked tight ecosystems right now with iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS to varying levels of degree anyway. If proprietary applications go that route they would remain unaccessible to me, it wouldn't really change anything. But right now I can use things like figma and countless other apps because it runs on the web, it would otherwise never have been possible.

> in a world where websites can write to your keyboard firmware

again I would never relinquish control over the decision if it "can", I've been using Linux for 20+ years I already go to significant lengths to remain in control over my computing. But the fact that I can develop a cross-platform app that talks to some USB device directly via some standard web API, has benefits that outweigh the costs, that's just pragmatism.

Also if you asked me I would personally rather see Apple, Google, Microsoft and every other orphan crushing machine/publicly traded company shut down and all it's CEOs and shareholders hanging from street lamps, but personal politics aside, I'm only speaking of within the dystopia we already have anyway.

0 comments

troad8d ago

I don't think your stated interest in "remain[ing] in control over [your] computing" is at all compatible with the specific moves in tech that you're advocating for.

There's an obvious long-term trend for software to migrate from on-disk to cloud-based: from everything SaaS, through gaming, to Office suites. One common thread with all this software is that you have absolutely no control over it, which is - of course - the aim. No piracy, no unauthorised mods. Walled gardens forever in every direction.

Equally, there's a simultaneous long-term trend for 'attestation', ID checks, 'digital ID' documents, etc. Already, many bank apps refuse to run on Android devices that aren't Google-blessed and kissed. This trend is only accelerating.

In a world where paying taxes online - or accessing a bank account, or running an office suite - requires a Trusted Device™, what good is OSS? What good is software freedom? Running a Linux computer unable to interact with basic aspects of the modern world will quickly become as quaint as trying to do your day job on an Amiga.